Method of treating blanks



Mar. 13, 1923. 1,44 ,045,

J. G. NORTON. METHOD OF I'REATING BLANKS.

FILED JAN. 30. l9!9- III" Fig.2.

Fig, 3. Wvzmma Patented Mar. 13, 1923.

JAMES Gr. NORTON, OFQU'INCY, DiASSAC I-IUSETTS, A SSIGNOR TO UNITED SHOE MACHINERY conronn'rron, or NEW JERSEY.

or rarnnson, NEW JERSEY, A oonronn'rron 'nnrnon or TREATING BL N s.

Application filed .Tanuary.30, 1919. Serial No. 274,042.

T all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JAMES G; Norrrom-a citizen of the United States, residing at Quincy, in the county of Norfolk and-State of Massachusetts, have invented certain Improvements in Methods of Treating Blanks, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like'reference characters on the drawings indicating like parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to a method of treating blanks such for example as soleor heel lift blanks and is herein described as a method of treating heel lift blankspreparatory to incorporating them in the. heels of boots-and shoes.

Heel lift blanks are commonly cut out of.

pieces of hide; and, owing to the fact. that hides vary in thickness at different localities, the heel lift blanks vary from one another in the same dimension, and. a large part of themvary individuallyin thickness, that is, they are thicker at one point than at another. Before the blanks are incorporated in the heels it is desirable that each one should beof uniform thickness throughout to fit it for. the subsequent operations by which it is made into the finished heel. Preferably the lifts after being made of uniform thickness are separated into groups,

each member of which is of the same thickness before being passed to the heel making machine. Specifically, the standard of measurement ordinarily used is an iron which equals one forty-eighth of an inch; and the groups may be made up respectively of lifts the members of which have athickness 5 irons, 5:} irons, 6 irons, etc.

Hitherto it has been customary to run all the lifts through a skivingmachine which evensweach blank and then to sort theminto groups, each member of which has the same thickness. A large number of the blanks, however, are originally of uniform thickness throughout, or at least nearly enough so to be built into heels, and any skiving of these blanks results in a wafie of material. The sorting ofthe lifts is commonly made in accordance with their thickness at a selected point on the assumption that the work of the ski-ving machine is perfect. This assumption is not always .reliable, however,

.in s,-

, *ig. 1 shows in cross-section,threeimembers of one of thev groups into, Which'blanks.

between the thickness of the thinnestand that of the thickest point throughout the whole blank or throughout a selected locality thereof. All those blanks which have no such difference or substantiallynone and are therefore of uniform thickness throughout are placed in one group,and-all those'which have a difl erence in thickness are sorted into groups the members of whichh-ave approximately the same amount of difference in thickness. 1 V

The blanks having been separated in the manner described ab0've,- the groups composed ofuneven lifts are then treated in succession by having the members thereof reduced to an even thickness, for example, by running them through a ski-ving machine Which is set once for each grou-p. After having been skived they may be tested again for unevenness, if desired, and any found to be uneven may be reski-ved. These blanks, retested and reskived asfar as necessary, are thenplacedwiththe blanks of the first groupeach member of whichwas found by test to be of uniform thickness;

Accordingly, they are in proper conditi'on to be made I up lifts, however, differ from one another in thickness. They are preferably next sorted into groups the membersof which have the same uniform thickness. By this method of treatment, the waste/in niaterial and labor which has formerly resulted from running through .the skiving machine thickness of each lift is finally ensured. I

- Referrmgnowtothe accompanying drawinto beds, The.

blanks which were of substantially uniform thickness is avoided, and uniformity in of nonuniformthickness are sortedl preparatory-to being skived,

Flg. 2 shows" similarly three members of another group the thicknessedifference -of which is less than that of the members of the group shown in Fig. 1, and

Fig. 3 shows the principal parts of a skiving machine adapted to even blanks such as are shown in Figs. 1 and 2,the thickness-difference of which is known.

he blanks are died out indiscriminately from pieces of leather with the result that the blanks, as they are thrown into a basket or other receptacle, form a heterogeneous collection, the problem being to separate those which are uniform. in thickness throughout from those which are not, to re duce without waste each of the latter to a substantially uniform thickness throughout and then to sort all of the blanks into groups each member of which has the same uniform thickness.

The blanks are first tested one by one for variation in thickness with reference particularly to the edge portion or part of the edge portion of the blank, those which have a variation being placed in a series of groups in accordance with the amount of this variation or thickness-difference. For 'example, all which have a thiclmessdifference of from one-half to one iron may be placed in one group, those which have a thickness difference of from one and one-half to two irons in another group, etc., Three members each oftw o of such groups are shown in Figs. 1 and 2, those of Fig.1 having a thicknessdifference of say one iron and those of Fig. 2 having a thickness-difference of say one-half an iron. It should be noted that the absolute thickness of the members of the groups is immaterial and may vary greatly. Although this separation .of the blanks, on the one hand into a group each member of whlch has: no Variation in thlCk members operated upon to remove the variation. This operation may be carried out in any suitable manner, as for example by running them through a skiving machine which. is set once for the members of each group.

In Fig. 3 there are shown the principal parts of a machine by which this may be accomplished, taking one group at a time and finishing the members thereof before pro ceeding with the members of the next group.

A fixed member 5 carries a plurality ofspring-pressed rollers 7, said fixed member havmg a plane lower face with which the cutting edge of a knife 9 is maintained parallel, said knife being fast to a carrier 11 which is vertically adjustable in proper guideways by means of a screw bolt 13 threaded through a portion of the fixed member 5 and having a head rotatable in but held from longitudinal movement with respect to the knife carrier 11. In practice the knife will be adjusted for each group of blanks of non-uniform thickness so that the distance from the edge of the knife to the under surface of the fixed member 5 will be equal to the thickness-difference of the particular group to be operated upon, and then that group will be run through the machine one by one. Each blank may be placed upon the top of a plunger 15 which is normally in lowered position and has mounted therein a driven feed roll 17. raised through a spring 18 by a cam 21 into the position shown and held there, this position being determined by thethickness of the blank at its thickest point. Power is then applied to the driven roll 17 to feed the blank to the knife. In order to facilitate the feeding of the blank the plunger may carry a plurality of idle rolls 28, or these rolls may also be driven with the roll 17 and, in order to facilitate an adjustment of the knife, a pointer 25 fast to the fixed member may cooperate with a scale marked on the knife carrier.

The evened lifts as they leave this machine may be received in the same receptacle in which the first group of blanks of even thickness was placed. All of the blanks are at this stage individually of uniform thickness and are accordingly in proper condition to be made up into heels. Before being passed to the heel making machines, they may be sorted, preferably by means of an automatic machine, into groups each member of which has the same uniform thickness.

Although, as stated above, the skivedlifts may be added directly after the skiving operation to the group of lifts each member of which is of uniform thickness, it may be desirable with some kinds of stock or where particularly fine shoes are being manufactured, to retest the skived lifts for uniformity in thickness and to reskive such of them as are found not to be uniform in this dimension so that the substantial uniformity in thickness of all the lifts is absolutely ensured; and with regard to the first step of the method, which comprises sorting the even from the uneven blanks, if a measuring tool is used, which indicates the extent of the thickness of each blank and not merely the extent of the variation in the thickness, it may be found desirable to sort the blanks which have no variation immediately into groups in accordance with their thicknesses, and to add to these groups the other blanks The plunger is then after they have been passed through the skiving machine or have otherwise been which are wedge-shaped in cross-section,

but it should be understood that neither the shape nor the nature of the blanks, nor the characteristic in accordance with a variation in which the blanks are treated is material to the invention in its broader aspects. machine which has been briefly described is not herein claimed but forms the subjectmatter of application Ser. No. 428,260, filed in my name.

having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. The method of treating a plurality of blanks which comprises measuring them for the amount of variation in a selected characteristic at different localities, sorting the blanks into groups in accordance with such variation and operating upon the blanks, group by group,.to remove the said variation in the selected characteristic andrender each blank substantially uniform with respect to the selected characteristic.

2. The method of treating heterogeneous blanks which comprises determining. the amount of variation in thickness at different localities on each blank, sorting the blanks into groups in accordance with the amount of this variation so that all blanks having substantially the same amount of variation in thickness are collected into the same group, and then operating upon the blanks The blanks the membersof which are partly ofv substantially uniform'and partly of nonuniform thickness which comprises separat- I ing the blanks of substantially uniform thickness from those which are non-uniform,

measuring the non-uniform blanks for the variation and render each blank of substantantially uniform thickness,

4. The method of treating a plurality of blanks the members of which are partly of substantially uniform and partly of nonuniform thickness which comprises separating the blanks of substantially uniform thickness from those which are non-uniform, measuring the non-uniform blanks for the amount of variation in thickness, sorting the measured blanks into groups in. accordance with such variation, operating upon these blanks group by gr'oup to remove said variation and render each blank of substantially uniform thickness, and finally sortingall of the blanks into groups the members of which have the same thickness.

5. The method of treating a plurality of blanks which comprises measuring them for the amount of variation in thickness between selected localities, sorting the blanks into groups in accordance with such variation, operating uponthe blanks group by group to remove the said variation and render each blank of substantially uniform thickness, and sorting the blanks into groups the members of which have the same thickness. t

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

JAMES e. NORTON.- 

